Tastes Like Chicken
by Death-Nerd
Summary: The story of Zetsu, from birth to Akatsuki. No pairings Rated T to be safe. Read and Review
1. The Birth and beginning

**Oh em gee my first Naruto fic. I'm excited because this one's about Zetsu. He's one of the less appreciated characters in fandom and the anime. But I find him completely awesome! I came up with the idea on the way home from camping while listening to _Lust For Blood _by Gackt. Fitting song for him huh? Anyway I thought of how hard it might have been to grow up as him seeing his scary outward appearance. But I believe he's gentle and caring (minus his evil half) Anyway this might be long and might go into school if I don't hurry with it, and if it does than I might not finish it. Oh and of coarse R n R please. **

* * *

A pregnant young woman named Kei ran through the cold streets of the hidden grass village in an attempt to get to safety from the oncoming onslaught. The grass country was in turmoil and a civil war was about to begin, being laden with child she wanted to get as far from the war as possible. Panting heavily from exhaustion she turned down the alley that leads to her small home. But as she spots her door she also spots an old woman stooped on her doorstep wrapped up in a blanket bigger than herself.

"Please ma'am," the old woman rasps, " if it isn't too much trouble, spare a few coins for this old woman."

It was mid winter and most people were broke or struggling to survive, either begging or working to the bone. But Kei had been lucky and had a family with a decent amount of money to keep her satisfied, and that had made her selfish.

"Go away peasant, and stay off my doorstep, there is nothing I will give to you." she spat glaring at the abomination on her doorstep.

The old woman immediately stood up and glowered at Kei through the blanket "You will regret your decision wench." She pointed a bony finger at Kei and said, "When you bear your child, he will be a demon scourge upon all the land, and you will die giving birth to this demon." Kei ignored her and unlocked her door and went inside, slamming it closed without even glancing back.

* * *

A couple months later in April she bore her first and last child. Dying in childbirth she didn't even get to see her son's face, but if she had she would've had a heart attack. He had pale white skin with light green hair, ghastly yellow eyes, and two small fly trap type leaves growing out either side of his shoulders. If not for the objections of the father he would have been thrown into the river, for they thought he was an evil omen. But it took every fiber in the man's being not to kill off the demon like baby himself. He only kept it as a momentum of his deceased wife, and named him Zetsu.

* * *

_**Seven Years Later**_

"...And you're name is cherry, now we're all friends!" Alone in a shack a boy only seven played by himself in the place he calls his bedroom. His pale, white face glowing in the shadows and his green hair illuminated by the sunlight coming through the cracks in the wall. He looks down smiling at his homemade dolls he had named and starts to play with them. No one wants to play with him and he hasn't had one real friend in his lifetime and to him they're just as far off as a fairytale. But Zetsu doesn't mind, he isn't hateful towards the other children and understands why they don't look at him. So he goes his own way and creates imaginary friends to keep him company. Suddenly the door opens, temporarily blinding him.

"Dinner time Zetsu."

His father is not fond of his freakish son but tolerates him, and tried his best not to abuse the child. He is given a decent amount of food and is allowed in the house but doesn't get many privileges.

"I'll eat out here father, if that's alright."

"Fine, but wash your dishes when your done."

He smiles and grabs the food left by his father near the door, it's a small fish and some edible plants. He doesn't like eating the plants but does anyway, they always make him feel like a cannibal, even though he doesn't think he's a plant at all. Pausing from dinner he looks out his window and for the first time he sees something out of place. A person with a headband bearing the symbol of grass and in a special vest is out in their small garden, a man of the village whose purpose was unknown. Suddenly more appeared and attacked the lone man, only to fall at the man's feet in defeat. Zetsu's eyes widened as he watched the onslaught occurring only a few feet away. It was amazing, the blood flying everywhere staining the ground as one lone man defeated many like they were flies. He didn't know what he was or who the others were but he wanted to be just like that, unbeatable and powerful. When all was calm again; the man sighed and put away his weapons. Without a moments hesitation Zetsu ran out of his room and ran up to the stranger. He was about to speak when he was interrupted.

"Oh, so this is the fabled demon plant boy I've been hearing about all over, you're not half as frightening as they say you are." Said the man half smiling. He was middle aged with scars all over his face distorting his features and short, messy brown hair covering his eyes. His comment hurt Zetsu but made him happy at the same time.

"um...thank you, If I may ask, what exactly are you? I don't get out very often so I don't know much about the village." The man stared at him for a moment, the laughed loudly.

"Why boy, I'm a shinobi, a guardian of the village. Jonin rank, name's Atsumaru."

Zetsu understood what that meant, it meant that people would have to accept him if he became a shinobi, and finally fit in with everyone and have real friends. Smiling widely showing his jagged teeth he said, "A shinobi! I want to be one! How can I become like you?"

"Well boy, you'd have to go to the ninja academy, graduate, and become a genin. From there you'd get a team and teacher to work with until you become a chunin. But I can't explain it all to you here, if you go to the academy they'll explain everything to you." Suddenly a bird call was heard overhead and Atsumaru looked up, frowning.

"I have to go then kid, but tell me, what's your name?"

"Zetsu, sir."

"Well Zetsu I hope to see you at the academy soon, the new term starts in two weeks, enough time to register." And with that he left disappearing into a cloud of smoke.


	2. Starting as a shinobi

**Finally an update! Ugh, sorry it took so long to write.**

* * *

It had taken a while but there he was, in a classroom sitting in the front right corner of the room. His father had refused at first, but after a few days he had decided to let him saying, 'you'll be doing something useful with your life.'

_I'm going to be a shinobi! I'm excited, I'll have something to do and be of use. I don't care what they say I'm going to be strong!' _He thought excitedly. True, all of the children had moved as far away from him as possible and some had even dared to insult him, but he payed them no mind, he could only think of how great it would be to be a shinobi like Atsumaru. He pulled out a book he had been reading called, _Basic Ninjutsu for Beginners _as the class chatted away and goofed off. Suddenly the door slammed open and the chuunin teacher walked in with an armful of papers.

"Settle down kiddies, this is the beginning of your training and you need to take it seriously!" he barked. At the sound of his rough voice the children instantly closed their mouths and went back to their seats. Putting the book away promptly Zetsu turned his attention to the man putting the numerous papers away.

"Okay let's get started."

* * *

For Zetsu, going to the Ninja Academy was the best thing that happened to him. He got to wear awesome ninja gear, throw things at logs, read tons of books and socialize with other people, even if they didn't want to socialize with him. His teacher only acknowledged him when it was test time or if he wasn't paying attention, other than that, like everyone else, he acted like that if he just pretended he wasn't there he would go away. But after a few weeks of training, Zetsu started to excel in stealth exercises and strategic lessons, causing him to be near the top of the class and gaining some positive attention from his father. However, when it came to hand to hand combat and fighting, he wasn't doing so well, when he lost the others would sneer at him and say rude things about him. Despite the fact that no one even tried to be his friend he enjoyed his life and accepted himself on the better days as a boy who just didn't fit in. He would sit on the roof of his room on sunny afternoons soaking up the sun with his large leaves and watching the clouds float by, and that was probably the best time of his life. But when he became a genin,things became different.

* * *

"...Krish, Natila, and Zetsu will make up team 12," Shouted the teacher. Zetsu had just passed his test and wore his headband proudly around his bare neck. When his father had heard he just smiled and told him that he could have some sweets later in the week, which was a rare thing for Zetsu to have. He looked over at his new teammates and smiled, who in turn cringed at his appearance. Krish had stunning blue eyes and black hair tied into a small, low ponytail. He had been exceptional in the ninjutsu department but lacked in tactics. Natila was small with brown hair ties into pigtails behind her head and plain, brown eyes. She was a taijutsu type who didn't do as well in with ninjutsu. They forced smiles on their faces and turned their heads away, it was obvious they did not want to be teammates with him.

"..And your sensei is Gendou Atsumaru."

Zetsu abruptly turned his gaze away from his teammates, staring in shock at his chuunin teacher

_'No way, Atsumaru is going to be my teacher!' _he thought happily. In all his life Atsumaru was the only one who had ever treated him with kindness, and he hadn't seen him since the incident in the garden.

"All right, everyone report here tomorrow at eight to meet your teachers, dismissed!"

* * *

Sitting in the crowded classroom waiting for his teacher, Zetsu sat studying a new scroll of plant jutsus he thought he could use. Kids ran about free in the classroom throwing paper and chatting with friends and teammates. Little by little the squad leaders would come and pick up their students until there was only one other squad in the room. It had gotten deathly quiet and everyone sat in an aqward silence. Hearing the sound of footsteps, he turned his head and met the eyes of his two teammates, who were both giving him a look that gave him chills.

"Okay, seeing as we're teammates we're going to have to sort out some issues." Krish said in a commanding tone. Politely, Zetsu put down his scroll and turned his attention to his teammate hoping it wasn't anything bad.

"First, just because we're on a team, doesn't mean we're friends. Which means only talking to us when necessary or if we talk to you first." Natila sent him a warning glare that practically screamed 'and I'll kick your ass if you try anything funny!' He cringed and nodded in reply, looking at the floorboards.

"I didn't expect you to like me anyway," he mumbled.

"What was that punk?!" Krish yelled grabbing his neck and pulling him up to eye level.

"W-what? I didn't say anything about you."

"I know you said something, what you think because you're freakish that you're better than us?"

He was confused, he hadn't said anything mean, so why were they making up excuses to hurt him? Anger flooded his body as a voice in his head whispered quietly '_They're just like all the others.' _Then, Zetsu did something out of his character, he spat in the other boy's face.

"That's it asshole!" He screeched. He punched Zetsu in the face and sent him flying back into the benches. Before he can get in another good hit a large hand lands on the shoulder of the other boy.

"Now what's with all this rough-housing among teammates?"

Zetsu looked up, it was Atsumaru who looked half mad, and half amused. It had been almost five years since he had seen him and new scars decorated his arms and face.

"Atsumaru sensei, I'm glad to see you again!" he piped happily.

"Zetsu, it's been quite a while! How have you been?"

"What, you mean you two know each other?" Natila questioned.

"Why yes, we met a few years ago! I'm pleased you made it this far Zetsu, I'm sure you'll make a great shinobi, you two as well." the older man said grinning and patting the other two on the back.

"Now, shall we head out?"

* * *

**This is probably a really crappy chapter and it took me forever to write, but I had writers block!**

**I blame that fact that schools coming up and I have other things to do. **


	3. The birth of Aku

Things were not going well. Currently, it was only him in the middle of a dense forest outside of the village, his team had abandoned him in a crude attempt of payback during their test. It had been a few hours and the sun was beginning to set, not good. Within a few hours his giant leafs would close up and he would go to sleep unwillingly. He sat in front of a fire staring into its embers thinking of worst case scenarios and plotting a way out. Suddenly, he heard a voice, it was quiet and distant but familiar. At first, he couldn't tell where it was coming from or what it was saying, but it slowly became louder, vibrating in his head, no longer whispering but talking.

"I can help us get back, I know the way."

He looked around, he didn't see or sense anyone, so where could the voice be coming from?

"You're obviously confused, I thought you would have realized I was here earlier." mocked the voice.

"Well, it can't be helped, you won't be able to find me that way. Close your eyes then try and find me, even your useless, idiots of teammates could do it."

"How can I find you by closing my eyes?" he asked into the dusk.

"Just _**do it,**_" the voice commanded.

Reluctantly, Zetsu closed his eyes. As usual he only saw the back of his eyelids; but then from the darkness in his mind appeared himself, only with coal black skin and big, yellow orbs for eyes.

"Well _finally! _I've been trying to talk to you for weeks but the noise of our crap-village kept you from hearing me! The only time I could get a word in was when you were asleep, but you'd just forget in the mornings." huffed his darker self as he walked closer.

"Who are you?" You look like me but...different."

"I'm you, well, the part of you that isn't an obedient little suck up," he smirked.

Ignoring the comment he asked, "Where did you come from? I know when I was younger I would create imaginary friends but I don't remember making you."

"I don't really know myself, I guess I was slowly made little by little. I was only able to talk a few months ago and couldn't contact you until a few weeks ago."

"So..." he paused before speaking again, "are you my...friend?"

His other half snorted then smiled, in an almost caring way.

"Sure, I'll be your friend, but you have to give a little too. It's not much, just some physical proof I exist, alright?"

"Alright! Just say what you want and I'll do it!" he didn't care what he had to give as long as he got a friend.

"Good boy, you can open your eyes now, I'll lead you through the forest back to the village."

Zetsu opened his eyes and took a quick look around before standing up and snuffing out the fire.

"Thank you...um...what's your name?" he asked in his mind.

"What do you want to call me?"

He thought for a moment, going through words and names he could use. In the end only one, simple word seemed to fit.

"How about, Aku?"

He chuckled and said, "I like it."

* * *

They managed to get halfway home before the sun set and they were forced to fall asleep. It had been a hard walk and he was exhausted. In the morning he woke up to excruciating pain on the right side of his body, it felt like his skin was burning off. He touched his hand to his face and felt his skin flaking off, onto the ground like snow.

"What's going on?"

"You said I could show some physical proof of my existence, so I am. My eye will come after half of the skin on the right side of your body is replaced with mine." he said as if he was explaining the weather.

He froze, he didn't know what he would do or take from him before but he thought he would be prepared but this was... too much. "What, you're surprised? I'll only be taking half your skin and an eye, hopefully I'll be able to talk out loud too."

"W-what? B-but I'm already a freak, if you come and appear on my face and start talking then I'll be hated even more, maybe even-"

"Shut up idiot and listen!"

He silenced, but only because he was afraid of what he could do to him if he didn't comply.

"Now I'm being generous because if I really wanted to, I could take control of everything and let you have the backseat for the rest of your life. Also, who cares what those half brained asses do to us? We're twice as smart as them and if they try to hurt us, I won't let them. And who cares what you look like, frankly, I think everyone else in this world is as ugly and revolting as a rotting, maggot filled, carcass."

He giggled at the comment and silently agreed, he never really thought that their orange skin and poop colored hair was very attractive, it was...unnatural.

"Heh, you agree then? Yeah, they're ugly little shits, but we're getting off track, do you understand what I'm saying now? In return of protection and friendship I get some physical needs, that's the deal, if not then I'll just disappear."

Panicking, Zetsu spoke without thinking.

"Of coarse! I'll give you whatever you need just don't go!" He had his first friend, he wasn't about to loose him over selfishness.

"Good, now, try to ignore the pain and let's keep going, the skin should finish peeling off in 24 hours if you bathe to help get it off. It's much less painful"

They walked in silence the rest of the way back, nothing else needed to be said.

* * *

When he had gotten back he immediately ran to the bath ignoring the questions of his father and began scrubbing off the skin. It was true, it didn't hurt as bad with the warm water and it came off faster, but the skin made the bath dirty and he mentally noted he's have to clean it later. When it was all gone there was a nice, clean border on his skin where white met black.

"Now isn't this nice? The eye will have to wait, it takes longer to prepare."

"Okay, but...how I am going to explain how I look?"

"I don't know, just, don't say anything. If they start throwing accusations I'll intervene all right?"

"Okay." He said unconvinced.

* * *

When his father finally found him, he was in his room learning from Aku how to manipulate his chakra more efficiently.

"Zetsu what is the meaning of this? You've been gone since yesterday and when you finally come home you run off and avoid me, where have you been?"

He looked over his shoulder slowly, hoping his reaction wouldn't be bad. But it was. His father gasped and stumbled back, holding himself up in the door frame.

"Ze- w-what happened to you?"

Guiltily he looked back down, then Aku took over.

"What's wrong old man? I just felt like trying a new style that's all." the voice came out rough and deep, it was almost demonic.

"Y-you've been possessed by evil spirits! I-I have to k-kill you myself!" he grabbed a kunai from a pouch were he keeps things for defense an ran toward him yelling. His father wasn't a fighter, but Zetsu was, in fact he had secretly been learning some plant type techniques on his own. The evil half, still in control formed a hand seal, and giant vines shot up from the ground and impaled his father through the stomach.

Zetsu was horrified, of all the people in the world he cared about his father was near the top, he didn't want to kill him, but inwardly Aku assured him it was the only way. On the white side of his face tears began falling down his face, but the other had an insane look in its eye. He walked up past the tangle of thick vines and up to his father, who was just barely alive.

"Sorry sir, Zetsu wants you to live but I know better than to let a threat to our existence live. By the way, my name's Aku ." His father's eyes widened then glassed over and his head slumped a little, he was dead. The vines receded and with control returning, Zetsu slumped to the floor and cried.

"It's okay Zetsu, he never cared for you. In all my years of watching silently I could tell, besides, now is the perfect opportunity to teach you how to clean up a corpse."

Trying to stop the tears he closed his eyes to see him and said, "H-how?"

Aku smirked devilishly. "You'll have to let me take control for a bit longer but I swear you'll like what you taste."

His eyes widened, "Y-you don't mean..?" But he didn't get a chance to finish as control slipped from his conscious and he was once again watching. It was horrific, Aku was having his body, _eat _the corpse of his father, but the worst part is he could taste it. But...the flesh was good. He liked it, and in fact wondered if he tasted like this, or if others tasted this good.

When he was done and control was returned Aku said,

"Now you know what these sharp fangs are for."

* * *

**Whee it's a longer chapter then usual! I hope you like how Zetsu got his black self. It was different then what I had originally thought of but I like this better. I chose the name 'Aku' because in Japanese it means evil. Fitting ne'? Review please! **


	4. Things that are missing

Even without his father, Zetsu's day to day life was the same. He scrounged up his own food, and he robbed from the local markets without getting caught thanks to his new techniques. When he went to meet his teammates the next day, not only were they disappointed he had found his way back, but their faces paled at his new appearance. Though they said nothing he could tell he was going to get it after the mission. A few days passed without occurrence and it was easy to keep the curious friends of his father away, and life was uneventful. But on one particular Saturday, his eye began to hurt. At first it was nothing, Aku assured him it wasn't infected and it was just the last end of their deal. But the pain just kept on getting worse each hour until he cried in pain. He sat huddled in the corner of his father's old bedroom holding his bleeding right eye and whimpering. It felt as if his eye socket was being ripped apart and sewn back together with a rusty nail.

"Zetsu, move your hand away." Aku said calmly. "The pain will go away if you do."

Reluctantly he moved his hand away and noticed that all the vision and feeling in his right eye was suddenly gone, but the socket still hurt.

"Now, I want you to allow me to use your left hand, it will be easier if I do it."

With control leaving his arm and numbness setting in he watched his arm lift up and move towards his right eye. He felt a small twinge of pain from his eye socket then relief from the pain. The arm brought itself down to rest in front of his face holding an eyeball that stared back at him. With control returning to his arm he gasped and dropped it onto the ground where dirt collected on its surface.

"Don't drop it!" he barked. "It's probably valuable and can be used for medicine. Keep it in a beaker full of water for now until we can get something better."

Before Zetsu could reply an even stronger pain invaded the spot where his eye once was, causing him to cry out. Trying to ignore the feeling of a liquid filling his eye socket, he picked up his old eye and walked over to the kitchen and placed it in a jar, filling it with water. Once that was done he asked,

"Aku, why does it feel like someone's pouring milk into my eye?"

"That's my eye filling the cavity, unlike yours it has a more enhanced nerve system so it can see better. But that also means that when it starts connecting to your brain you'll feel a lot more pain than before. But don't worry, after that you'll see the benefits."(no pun intended)

"Good, I don't want any more distractions. Say, do you think that if my teammates try to kill me, I'll be able to kill them in self defense and we'll be able to "dispose" of their bodies?"

He snorted, "I hope so, the food you've been sticking down our throat is horrible!"

"I know, after I had my first taste of human meat, nothing tastes as good as it used too."

* * *

Within an hour his eye had come in and was now just a circular yellow orb that looked like a giant egg yolk, completing his new look. Now even Atsumaru avoided him as much as he could, only talking to him to be polite. His teammates didn't give him cold looks anymore but fearful ones, wondering what he had become and what would change next. Now his fathers disappearance was becoming more apparent and he had to feign worry over a missing father to visitors, a search was sent out and his body was never found. (not surprisingly)

Months passed by and the chuunin exam arrived which was held in their village, and with help from Aku he passed with flying colors and became a chuunin. Luckily for he and his team Zetsu was good at stealth missions and usually went solo on C to A rank missions. A few peaceful months went by, training with his team and doing missions; but the peacefulness shattered one evening. Whether for better of worse his hope had happened, but not how he had planned. It was midnight and thanks to months of work he had finally gotten control over his sleep patterns, which means he could be woken up by the sound of a kunai flying through the air toward his head. Startled awake he rolled to the left and got in a battle crouch. With his new eye he could see his two teammates glowering at him in the darkness. Wasting no words he immediately went into action and his teammates imitated. Skipping the idle fist fights he formed a hand seal and many strong vines shot up from the floor towards the pair. Jumping out of the way they formed seals of their own, he recognized the formation, they had practiced it before the chuunin exams and it had been a defeating move against an enemy squad. Without him, there was an easily accessible hole in formation. He jumped behind Krish and knee'd him in the small of his back and pinched the vulnerable part of his neck, causing him to fall to the floor in pain. Natila turned to him and started to form another seal but he beat her to it. He grabbed her wrist in mid-seal forming and broke it with a loud 'snap.' She cried out and attempted to grab a kunai to stab him with but a hidden vine behind her shot out and stabbed many vital organs. Krish, still fully conscious, stared in horror. It had been known that they had been an item for a while and he was very fond of his girl.

"Y-you bastard! I'll make you pay for killing her!" He struggled to stand up and ran toward him, not even trying to hold back his tears. Years of torture and mistreatment flashed across his mind as he stabbed a well aimed vine through his skull, killing him instantly. For a few moments he stared at the dull, lifeless stare of his former partner. A wave of nostalgia washed over for a brief moment, but it passed quickly, he had killed off those types of emotion long ago.

"So, are you going to clean up this mess or what? If you're wondering how you won so easily it's because they were blinded by emotion."

"How could they be blinded by emotion while they were attacking me? I can understand when I killed off Natila but..." Aku stayed silent. And so did Zetsu. Neither were sure weather they were blinded by hate, or some small amount of affection.

* * *

In the process of 'disposing the bodies, Zetsu was interrupted by a knock on the door and the sound of Atsumaru's voice.

"Zetsu? Are you in there?" Yelled the booming voice of his teacher.

"Crap, if a jonin sees you we're screwed" Aku said in a pissed tone. They had both forgotten the early morning mission their team had been assigned. All three of them were supposed to be there an hour ago, and they were just in the middle of finishing off Krish's small intestine.

He opened the door and stepped inside. "Zetsu? Do you know where everyone is? You know you...were...sup.." His face widened in horror at the bloody sight of his students being eaten, guts being strewn haphazardly across the floor.

"What the..."

All he could do was stare up at the confused older man with a look as close to innocence as a person with a mouthful of human flesh could pull off.

Atsumaru paused then looked up at him with a hard to read expression. "Zetsu... I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to kill you now. I had thought you were different from what everyone else said, that 'demon' was furthest from your true self. Even when your appearance changed I tried to ignore it and still thought of you that way." as he stared at the ground a look of total defeat and sadness had appeared on his features, like he had just watched his wife die.

"But now I see you're just as they said, a demon, a monster." the sadness in his face was gone and replaced by anger.

It was unbelievable, the one person who he had believed in his entire live, was now going to try and take his life for defending himself. Shock, sadness, and rage filled his mind and a familiar phrase whispered in his head.

"_He's just like everyone else..."_

As his body moved forward consciousness slipped away from him slowly as his darker half took over all and the lighter self fell asleep.

* * *

"Hey, wake up! Jeez I can't believe you fell asleep on me. WAKE UP."

His eyes fluttered open revealing a forest canopy above them and the sound of birds chirping overhead. As he tried to sit up he was hit with a pain in his abdomen and immediately laid back down.

"What happened?" he asked still disoriented.

"Well, all the stress from the previous fight caused you to go 'night night' and I had 100 control over your body. I fought with Atsumaru, he was tough and almost killed us, but I won then fled. We're missing nin now kiddo. But we're badly injured, it'll be a while before we can move again."

He didn't reply and a small tear appeared at the corner of his eye, but he quickly wiped it away. Looking over he saw his ninja band folded neatly next to some ointment. He grabbed it and a kunai and silently crossed through the symbol of his village.

* * *

**Sorry for lack of updates. I was uninspired and school had started on Tuesday. It really wasn't that bad! Sorry for lack of action but I suck at writing action sequences and can hardly understand them too. And if he seems too invincible or something I apologize for that too. **

**RnR please. **

**P.S. I finally learned how to edit the document here!  
**


	5. Wandering

**Sorry for Lack of updates for like...two weeks. There was piles of homework and family came over last weekend which meant family time. UGH **

**Thank you to those who've reviewed so far! **

* * *

For a week or so Zetsu wandered through the forest not really knowing where he was of where he was going. Just in case he was being targeted he hid in the bushes from any ninja he saw or heard. Eventually he made it to the outskirts of Iwa, dehydrated and tired. Since no one there knew his chakra signature he used a simple henge no jutsu to disguise himself. One day as he was getting some infected wounds he had received in the woods treated he sensed some very familiar chakra signatures. The doctor was still treating him and he couldn't just jump out the window to escape, he'd have to come up with an excuse.

"Um... can I use the bathroom?"

"I'll be done in a five minutes, you can hold it." She said without looking up. She certainly wasn't the nicest of medical nin.

"_**Hurry up or we'll be caught by your old buddies!"**_ Aku hissed in his head.

He struggled to come up with a plan as the enemies chakra flared and shouts were heard; they had felt it.

"What's with all the commotion out there?!" the nurse shouted. She turned around and looked opened the door looking into the hallway.

"Hey you two! There are injured here so shut the hel-" She was cut of as the two jonin pushed her out of the way and burst into the room.

"I'm absolutely sure I felt his chakra coming from in here!" shouted an aggravated jonin

"Me too, he must of escaped while the lady's back was turned. Check the surrounding area, I'll call for backup."

"Excuse me sirs but what are you talking about?" The nurse asked politely.

"You haven't heard? A ninja from our village recently killed three shinobi and his father then fled the village, he's a monster inside and out."

* * *

"That was really close, we'd better find another village and get healed there." Zetsu said aloud.

"_**No duh! I can't believe those shit heads were there! Of all the fuckin' places it had to be in Iwa!"**_

Ignoring his body buddie's remark he turned around and started down the trail. After a long period of silence Zetsu decided to ask Aku something that had been bugging him for a while.

"Hey, how come you know so much? I mean, seeing as you came from my conscience you should only know what I know. So why do you know so much about chakra and medicine?"

It was silent for a moment before he replied, the voice echoing through his mind.

"_**Well, my earliest memory is from when you were seven years old. I could see but I had no physical appearance yet and I wasn't exactly bound to your mind as I am now. I also couldn't talk to you so it got pretty dull up there. But I figured out after about a month how to leave your mind and enter others, looking through their memories and archives. After you met Atsumaru and decided you wanted to be a shinobi I made it my duty to learn as much as I could to help you when I could speak to you. So I wandered from shinobi to shinobi, picking up tactics and jutsu along the way."**_

He walked on silent absorbing the information then replied,

"So you studied for years to help me become a shinobi?" he asked.

"_**Yeah, I didn't want to share a body with a wimp, and you also created me as a friend, so I automatically want you to be as happy as possible." **_

"You...really are my friend? You want me to be happy?" He stuttered. It seemed almost unbelievable.

"_**Y..yeah I do but I'm also in this for myself, don't forget that. Besides, even though it seems like everything got worse, can you say life was any better before I came along?" **_

He contemplated this. True, getting the new appearance was far from fun and killing those closest to him was painful...but. Before Aku had come along, he had been all alone, no one even looked at him. But after Aku had appeared, he had a friend. They would sometimes roleplay in their free time and Aku would sometimes create an entire landscape within his own mind. He was like an older brother or second father to him, coaching him on how to do techniques and sometimes they even just talked. Despite the downsides he didn't mind being a missing nin, it meant that every day was a new challenge . Who would he kill today? Will he be attacked by people he knows?

"You're right, I actually really like it this way."

* * *

After a month or so of wandering and running from shinobi, Zetsu was approached by a mysterious man in a black cloak. (He had more appeared than approached). He had piercings all up the bridge of his nose, below his lip, and around his ears and his orange hair was spiked to perfection. As soon Zetsu as got in battle position he felt the immense chakra surround him, it was stifling and seemingly endless. He sat back down in knowing this man was more than he could handle, and distinctly in his mind he was sure he heard Aku whisper

"_**Holy shit-monkeys..."**_

"Hello, gentleman, I'm known as Pein. Nice evening isn't it?" He said smiling as he sat down across from him.

"H-hello... Wait, you said gentleman which is plural. Do you know about Aku?"

"Oh so you've named the conscience!" Pein said amused.

"_**Hey!" **_Aku snapped out loud. **_"I resent that!" _**

"He has a temper doesn't he?"

"Quite. If I may be bold sir what do you want with us?"

Pein's face immediately changed from joking to seriousness.

"I heard about you in my travels and was impressed at some of the rumors of your techniques. And after much contemplation I've decided to ask you to join my organization."

* * *

**  
Due to lack of inspiration I'm stopping there. Yeah sorry, my stepbrother kicked me off while I was in mid-writing so I lost my inspiration. I'll try and update soon! Oh yeah, review please!**


	6. Welcome to the team!

**Wow, it's been a while huh? Been busy and still will be busy. I joined Speech and Debate which will take up weekends and weekdays but I'm having fun! **

The man's request was an odd one, join his organization and get benefits while helping in a reformation of some sort. He and Aku conversed. Seeing as they nothing better to do, it had benefits, the outfit was pretty nifty, and they could be protected from enemy's, it seemed like a pretty sweet deal.

"Fine, we'll join, but we need to know more about what we're doing within a reasonable amount of time."

"_**And how are we supposed to fit in that **_**uniform** _**of yours? You have noticed the giant leaves around our head right?" **_Aku****said sarcastically pointing to the leaves for emphasis with the left hand.

"Not to worry, my other associates have talents and we can fit you into a uniform." Pein said smiling.

Aku and Zetsu both took time to absorb that bit of information.

"So you mean..." Zetsu began. _**"...That our future teammates are a bunch of sewing machine sissies! I thought we were joining an s ranked evil organization not a sewing club!" **_Aku finished angrily.

Pein looked amused at their reaction then said, "No no, they just have certain hobbies they use when we need cloaks repaired or other needs have to be met."

"Okay, so...I guess we're with you then. Now what?"

The man known as Pein smiled in a creepy way for the billionth and standing up said, "You get to meet the team." Then he formed a hand sign and they both dissipated into a puff of smoke.

"So this is the new recruit you were telling us about Leader- sama." A hefty shadow said to Zetsu's left.

"Hey, A fellow weird looking ninja, welcome to the group kid!" a tall, fish eyed shadow said grinning in the darkness

Currently Zetsu stood in a very dark cave standing on what appeared to be a giant finger attached to a giant hand with seven others standing on other fingers. Zetsu had already been introduced to Konan, Pein, and Kazuku when he had gotten his outfit. And so far he was pretty happy with his decision. Most of the people he had seen so far were equally odd looking and didn't judge him like the others did. He wouldn't be paired up and would be used for stealth and tracking missions.

"Okay Zetsu, go ahead and introduce yourself to the others," the leader's silhouette said.

"Um... Hi, we're Zetsu _**and Aku.**_ I'm from the hidden grass, Aku here is from my head."

For one moment there was a stifling silence, then a few chuckles were heard.

The fish eyed silhouette spoke chuckling in between every few words. "Wow, and I though I was weird! Seriously man were you dropped on your head as a baby?"

"Kisame, be quiet.," the shorter body said eying him with red eyes. "He is not insane, he has two different chakra signatures in his body."

The fish eyed man instantly clammed up and everyone who hadn't already seen him stared at him, making him feel very uncomfortable.

"Okay, okay, leave them be boys, you're making them uncomfortable." Pein said waving his hand gaily . By then, Zetsu was hiding in his new cloak and his fly trap was closed around his face.

As time passed he got to meet the other members in person inside their "house hideout." Sasori had greeted him stiffly then shuffled into his room without another word. Orochimaru had greeted him formally then observed him with curiosity before going out to look for more "test subjects." Itachi didn't say anything and just sipped his coffee apathetically. Kisame was the only one who had introduced himself warmly and apologized for his earlier comment. Now sitting in the sun working on a garden Zetsu pondered his new teammates. They were certainly just as odd as he was and even the more normal looking ones treated him as if he was a regular person. Smiling slightly he placed the daisy into the shallow hole and covered it with more earth. Suddenly a pathetic crying noise was heard from the house and the front door slammed open. Looking up Zetsu saw a distressed and crying Orochimaru in his casual outfit holding a suitcase.

"I'm never coming back to this organization, you hear! I'm sick of all your 'pedophile' jokes Itachi! I NEVER want to see you again!" And with that he stormed off, tears flying dramatically and leaving behind a very confused Zetsu.

**Ahahahaha! Review please**?


	7. The Mystery of the Orange Blob

_I'm so sorry I haven't updated in forever. School and family life eats up my time._

_EDIT: I'm resubmitting this chapter because I fixed the previous mistakes. I hope no one minds  
_

* * *

It was dark, and all of the Akatsuki were in bed…well, all except for one. Zetsu quietly crept through the hallways of their 'house' hideout, stealthily creeping past the bedrooms of the other members. The 'tick tock' of the living-room clock and the hooting of the owl were all that was heard throughout the halls giving the place a peaceful feeling. As Zetsu crept toward the door, he stepped on a loose floorboard, causing a loud creak to echo through the house. 

"Quiet! Do you want to get some food or not!" Aku whispered furiously through the right side of their mouth.

"I do, but I didn't know that floorboard creaked like that!" protested Zetsu, whispering by the left side.

"Oh, like _hell _you didn't, we've only lived here for about, what, a year now and we've had plenty of time to get used to this place!"

"Well, if we know the place so well why didn't you stop me?"

"Because even if I did warn you it would've been too late!" Their quiet argument continued like this until they heard a low mumble coming from the leader's quarters.

"Oh shit! You've done it now; now we'll never get any fresh human meat!" Aku complained throwing up their right hand in exasperation.

"Shh! We can still get some without anyone knowing if we leave now and we both shut up."

Nodding, Zetsu formed a hand seal and sunk into the floorboards at a painfully slow rate until he was gone.

* * *

"Hey, look over there." Aku said pointing with the right hand into the dark. 

"What?"

"See that orange blob? It's moving, and chakra's coming out of it."

"Do you think it's a human wearing a mask?"

"Possibly, if it is, we should eat it."

"Right, I'm starving." They had been searching the woods near the neighboring village for hours looking for food, but hadn't found anything worth nibbling on. It was now around three in the morning by Aku's internal clock and time was running out. But with the spotting of the orange dot, his hope flared. Crouching down low they crept slowly towards the hopping orange dot barely making a sound in the foliage. As they got closer to the dot, it started to show the shape of a boy' body. The masked boy had a basket of herbs hanging off his arm and a long scarf around his neck. He walked at a steady rate and was humming a cheery tune while plucking herbs off branches and putting them in the basket. He was only five feet away now, and he had just bent over to pick up a mushroom, perfect. He jumped out from behind the bushes and dove for the prey, hunger clouding judgement. But before he could sink his teeth into the boy's shoulder, the masked boy swung around and hit him with his basket, knocking Zetsu face first onto the ground.

"Oh!" the masked boy yelped girlishly. "I'm so, so sorry sir, are you all right?" he asked in a worried voice bending over to where Zetsu lay.

"Yush." Zetsu mumbled through the dirt, thoroughly humiliated.

"You sure? My basket is pretty dangerous you know, it's hurt many people before!" he continued rambling on about baskets and their dangers at the back of his head causing quite an uproar in Zetsu's head.

"HOW THE FUCK DID A FUCKIN' BASKET STOP US FROM EATING THIS FUCKING TWERP!" Aku raged. Zetsu rubbed his imaginary temples trying to block out the blabbering coming from the weird boy and the ranting coming from Aku.

"Shut up for a sec and let me think okay!" Zetsu yelled internally and outwardly, shutting them both up. He sat up and closed the flytrap around his head, causing the masked boy to squeak with wonder.

The boy ignored Zetsu's previous order and knocked on the flytrap "Wow! I've never seen anyone so cool looking before! What's your name?" Zetsu growled and tried to block out the boys enthusiastic praising of his unique look. It worked and he was able to come up with a plan, a plan Aku disagreed with but didn't do anything about.

"…And one time I had this flower garden with little-"

"Hey, kid, what's your name?" he interrupted, the flytrap fully opened revealing his face.

The masked boy had been looking off into the distance talking to nothing but as Zetsu spoke his head snapped over to look at him.

"My name's Tobiton William Wakamatsu the III, but everyone just calls me Tobi." He said in a slightly more cheerful tone than before, happy to be acknowledged.

"That's a long name Tobi, do you live nearby?"

"Why yes, I live by myself in a cabin at the edge of the village, how about you?" He set his basket down and sat down next to Zetsu. They started to talk engage in conversation, and Zetsu learned a lot about the boy that night. He was an orphan whose mother had died when he was ten, he never knew who his father was or if he was an "accident." He wore the mask because he was embarrassed of the scars on his face that he got after scraping his face on some rocks. By the time the sun had risen they knew practically everything about the other, and Zetsu didn't want to eat anymore…too bad Aku was still hungry.

'C'mon! Let's just eat him! I'm HUNGRY! We're already going to be late getting back so we might as well feast! PLEEEASE!" But Zetsu ignored the pleading and whining of his mind mate and directed his thoughts towards Tobi. After contemplating for a while Zetsu finally said, "Hey, Tobi, want to join this cool organization that I'm in? You'll really like it!"


	8. Truth

"WHAT WHERE YOU THINKING!?" Sir leader slammed his palm on his desk with a loud 'thump.' Zetsu flinched and stepped back a bit, in the back of his mind he heard the 'know-it-all' snicker of Aku say "_Told you so."_

The still pissed leader continued on, "You think that we can recruit just anyone off the street? We're not a damn orphanage!"

"I know that sir-"

"Then _why _did you tell him about us? _Why _did you get that kid's hopes up?_Why _in the _hell _did you put our organization in danger?"

Zetsu stayed silent, truthfully he had no idea why he did it, it was sort of on an impulse.

His thought process was interrupted by the irritated voice of Leader. "What are you going to do about this? I am hoping that you will just kill him and be done with it."

"_I agree, besides I'll be able to eat something _decent _around here," _Aku added.

"No, I think that I can help him become stronger, he might become an asset to the group, so _please _just let him join."

"ABSOLUTELY NOT! Have you seen how weak he is? He barely has enough chakra to make a half-dead shadow clone, and you want me to let that join?"

"Well…when you say it like that it sounds harsh but-"

"BUT nothing! Seriously, even if he had one ounce more of power, it wouldn't matter; he's too damn innocent to be here!"

Zetsu was outdone, and he knew it. There was no reason to recruit him, or keep him a live for that matter.

"…Fine, sir. I'll see to it that he is taken care of." Zetsu mumbled.

"Good, I don't want to see that obnoxious orange mask again, you here me?"

"Yessir…"

* * *

"Zetsu-san, Zetsu-san, what did he say!? Am I in!?" Tobi leaned forward on his rock perch and bounced up and down in anticipation as Zetsu slowly emerged from the ground. Zetsu shook his head and decided that the pebble on the left was very interesting at the moment, and decided to stare it down intensely. It didn't help distract him. Tobi gasped and shouted, "Why? How come I can't join?"

"Because Tobi, you… just can't okay, It'd be best if you just forgot about it and went home."

"_Or…" _Aku added, _"You can come over here and let us eat you like Leader wants us to do." _

At the suggestion Tobi took a step back and somehow mustered a way to look terrified behind his mask.

"Aku, we're not going to eat him, no matter how hungry we both are."

"_Fine, but you owe me. If it wasn't for the fact that he's frikkin' powerful I would've killed him by now."_

Aku and Tobi both stiffened at his statement, "What do you mean powerful? You heard what Leader said…"

"_What? You can't feel it? That person there isn't the Tobi we met a few nights ago, he's totally different." _

The Tobi impostor finally spoke up, taking his mask of slowly. "Wow…I didn't think I'd be figured out so soon, Aku-san sure is smart." Tobi's mask came and showed his full face, or more specifically, his _eye._His right eye was a deep crimson red with a kaleidoscope design around the pupil, his left eye was covered in a bandage that circled around his head.

"The person you met last night was who he said he was, but I needed an inconspicuous cover and he fit the part. Luckily for you Aku-san, his body is still fresh, feel free to dispose of it."

Aku wasn't thinking about eating now though, his mind was on only one thing, along with Zetsu.

"If Tobi's dead, then why do you look exactly like him? You'd have to be a medical nin to do those sort of things."

The person just smiled and said, "That's my little secret boys, now, may I speak with Pein-sama?"

* * *

"S-sir!" Was all Pein could bring himself to say. Standing before him was the _true_leader, whom he hadn't seen in over three years.

"Pein, from my reports you have been running things smoothly. I will continue to let you run the main group for now, as I have other things to attend to." The (true) Leader said smoothly.

"Yes sir." Pein said, shifting his weight uncomfortably. He wondered if it was appropriate to ask what was on his mind."

Seeming to sense his thoughts, the Leader smirked and said, "Yes, it is time."

Pein's head snapped up from the ground and nodded quickly. If it was time; then that meant it was time to recruit some more members, their measly 7 wasn't going to get the momentous job moving.

"Yes sir, I will start with your plans as soon as possible."

"Good." The Leader watched him for a moment then dissipated in a sudden poof of smoke. Pein looked up from the ground and looked towards the door where Zetsu's silhouette could be seen leaning against the paper door.

"You can come in now."

The door slid open and a guilty looking Zetsu shuffled in, not meeting his eyes.

"Sir," he began hesitantly, "who _was _that? I thought you were the true leader of Akatsuki."

"No, Zetsu. I am not. It is just a cover so the true leader can move around more freely. Sit, let me explain as much as I can."

He sat down on a little pillow and waited for 'Pein' to begin. Pein sat down behind his desk and gave Zetsu a long, appraising look before beginning.

"I can't reveal everything, but you are the only one who'll I'll share some information with. If you tell another soul what you are about to hear you will be killed, do you understand?"

Zetsu swallowed nervously and nodded once.

"Good. First off, the leader has to stay closer to his organization now, but without drawing too much attention to himself, therefore, until the time is right he will be your traveling companion. He will act as if he were the Tobi you introduced me to earlier, you shall call him Tobi as well. He will eventually 'join,' so you won't be with him for too long."

Zetsu sighed in relief, hanging out with a person as scary as that wouldn't be fun. In the back of his mind Aku seemed to agree.

"Now, anything _else_you need to know?"

Zetsu paused, then continued, "Yes, there is one thing, what was with his eye?"

Pein stiffened, then closed his eyes and sighed.

"I cannot say, you're going to have to find out for yourself in your free time." He said simply.

"Alright…"

"You may go, clean up the remains outside of the base before it begins to rot."

* * *

**I apologize for the month or more wait for updates, but be not weary, the speech season is almost over for me, HURRAH! **

**I'm thinking of stopping the story here, and if I do I _might _do a sequel, please review and express your opinions on the matter. I WAS going to have Tobi be his own person, but thanks to the newest manga chapters that's nearly impossible, so I'm going with this.**

**REVIEWWWWW **


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